Jessicah Peters/The Sun Today Red Sox Nation is a tight-knit group of about 80 members who come together for the love of the game. Bob Ellis, Mary Ellen Wallick, Lorraine Campbell and Maggie and Steve Morse organize the social fan meetings.

Steve Morse can remember catching Pedro Martinez’s fly ball at Fenway Park in 2005, the season after Boston’s 2004 World Series win.

Bob Ellis, a retired Lebanon (N.H.) High School teacher, remembers having Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington as a student in his classroom.

While the Lowcountry is far from Fenway Park, numerous Red Sox fans reside in Sun City. With a group of about 80, Red Sox Nation meets to not only discuss the upcoming season, but also to socialize through the love of baseball.

With less than one month before the Boston Red Sox start their season at New York, fans are eagerly watching spring training games. The community group welcomed spring training through a game of trivia.

“There were questions that were really challenging, but everyone had a fun time trying to remember the baseball history,” Morse said.

With a father who played baseball at the University of Vermont with Larry Gardner, a Red Sox third baseman from 1908-1917, Morse had no choice but to grow up a Red Sox fan.

“I can remember the only summer vacation we had was going to Fenway Park. While the women shopped, we went to the games,” he said.

Ellis can relate. Growing up outside Boston, it was just normal to take the subway to the game while his family went shopping in the city.

“Those were my favorite shopping trips,” Ellis said.

For Mary Ellen Wallick, her husband had the opportunity to be recruited by the Red Sox, but unfortunately a deal wasn’t made.

“I could’ve been a Red Sox player’s wife, but for whatever reason my father-in-law and husband couldn’t land the deal,” she said.

When Wallick moved to south Connecticut, cheering for Boston wasn’t accepted.

“Nobody in Connecticut is a Mets fan… If you’re from south of the state, you cheered for the Yankees and just north of Hartford, Red Sox fans were accepted. When we moved to the north, we fit in better,” Wallick said.

When she moved to Sun City five years ago, she enjoyed finding a group that supported her beloved Red Sox. With a smaller membership compared to other clubs like the New England Group, Red Sox Nation is a tight-knit group that loves baseball.

Every year the super fans travel to attend Greenville Drive games at Flour Field, a replica stadium of Fenway Park. Fluor Field at the West End boasts its own “Green Monster,” a 30-foot high wall in left field, equipped with a manual scoreboard. The dimensions all around the outfield wall have the same specifications as Fenway Park, including “Pesky’s Pole” in right field.

While the group enjoys watching the Red Sox play, the members’ appreciation for the game is greater.

“Having played the game all of my life, I really enjoy the intricacies of baseball because there are so many facets,” Morse said. “There is a lot of strategy in it and you can’t help enjoy playing outdoors in the summer.”

Wallick enjoys the competition produced by Major League Baseball teams.

“When you’re only one game behind Tampa or the Yankees, it’s exciting. The only negative part of the game is that it is rather slow,” Wallick said.

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